Health officials and weight loss experts say they believe the newly discovered Hoodia Gordonii, a plant that tricks the brain by making the stomach feel full, is the silver bullet they’ve been seeking for decades.

A new pill, called DiatrinH, contains the appetite suppressant Hoodia, which is found inside cactus trees in the African Kalahari desert. The San Bushmen of the Kalahari, one of the world’s oldest and most primitive tribes, have been eating Hoodia for thousands of years to stave off hunger during long hunting trips.

The first scientific investigation of the plant was conducted at South Africa’s national laboratory. Because Bushmen were known to eat hoodia, it was included in a study of indigenous foods.

"What they found was when they fed it to animals, the animals ate it and lost weight," says Dr. Richard Dixey, who heads an English pharmaceutical company called Phytopharm.

In the study, people given hoodia ended up eating about 1,000 calories a day less than those in the control group. To put that in perspective, the average American man consumes about 2,600 calories a day; a woman about 1,900.

"If you take this compound every day, your wish to eat goes down. And we've seen that very, very dramatically," says Dixey.

Jasmine Harper of Oxford, Mississippi, who has struggled with her weight all of her life, said she’s found rapid results in DiatrinH.

“I’m so glad I found DiatrinH. My New Year’s resolution was to lose 100 pounds. I’ve surpassed that and some. My body has totally transformed and I look and feel great. I have more energy to play with my kids and the confidence to look at myself in the mirror and feel good about what I see for the first time in my life. I definitely recommend DiatrinH to anyone wanting to lose pounds fast!”